Following the dentist thread.....does anyone get nervous about the farrier coming?!

Flipo's Mum

Flipo's Mum

Heavy owner of a Heavy
Aug 17, 2009
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Perthshire, Scotland
Oh dear!! The most routine of things with a horse is back to being an absolute terror for me. Flipo doesn't stand still to be shod so he needs sedating. Sedalin doesn't touch the sides so I always have to call the vet and have a 'remember to where gloves, how much does he weigh again, no food for three hours, in a stable' conversation before they order in dormosedan (sp?) and I can pick it up two days later.
Then I have to warn my manager that I need the farrier, and have to be careful with my schedule so I can drop and run at a moments notice when I can get a slot. Because of that, I have had to wait two weeks over when he should have been done, I can't get anyone else to look after him during it. Less than ideal being that he needs shod because of his lameness.
Then I call the farrier, leave a message, invariably forget to include details such as where I stay or my phone number so call right back and then I wait......for maybe a week. Hoping and praying that I've not been ditched for having a hard-to-shoe horse.
Then the call comes, will the following day suit? And I never want to say no incase they won't come back so then have to beg my manager to get the following afternoon off. That always means having to do some other dodgy shift just to make up for it.
I feel a temporary relief at having it all booked until the day comes and I'm champing at the bit just to get on with it.
I have to dash home, get changed, walk flip along to the stable, cope with his crap stable manners (cause hes not used to it), hope I catch the farm manager to check its ok I use a spare stable, then worry about getting the sedative in, then worry that the sedative will work, then worry that the farrier isn't late incase the sedative wears off. Then worry I had enough to talk about and apologise enough when flipo invariably struggles while snoring. And then when it's all done, I worry I've got enough money to pay the guy.
Then I do a quick willy clean and groom while he's snoring and then stand for around an hour worrying he's too sweaty, not wakening up, trying to eat straw when he shouldn't.
Then I get him back to the field and worry hat I haven't cleaned up the stable enough and will get in trouble for leaving a mess.

All in all, this is just far too much worry. ...someone remind me why I have a horse again. I really need to chill out!

Eta - far too many typos to correct right now - sorry! I'm on my phone waiting for farrier to come and trying to take my mind off of it!

ETA typos sorted now I'm back home and relaxed again!!
 
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That’s a lot of worry! My friend on my yard has a horse who is similar to shoe. He has to be sedated and his owner has to pay extra ‘danger money’ to the farrier.

In answer to your question, you have a horse because you have this crazy horse bug like the rest of us and however hard you try, you will never get rid of it. One day, Flip will surprise you and walk calmly by the stable door and allow the farrier to calmly shoe him. All the hard work will pay off in the end.
 
Oohhh bloody hell FM! Can understand why you hate it.

Not sure I could deal with that hastle. Luckily my 2 or both very good for the farrier apart from when Victory decides to be a big girls blouse and pull back against the farrier holding his leg, breaking baler twine or pulling the whole ring off along with half the wood off the stables too, and then pees the farrier off who gets narky and I have to then hold V the whole time so he has be shod. V's not scared just being a twat!!

Apart from that all fine :bounce:

You must love that pony very much :biggrin:
 
Oh hell Flipo that does not sound fun. I can sympathise totally. When we first moved Joe and Storm home - I dreaded the farrier coming because we had no facilities at all, and the track to their paddock was a mud bath, and quite frankly I don't think our farrier wanted to go down it! Had to tow him out with our Land Rover Defender - don't think he was best pleased - I don't blame him either!
Then, there was all the hassle of actually getting JOe to be okay about it, cos at this stage (he was a nervy Tb!) he was still settling in and used to either go everywhere on his back legs - or fidget badly - either way, shoeing him in front of his field shelter was a total nightmare. Storm wasn't too bad as she just needed a trim.
Then, we had the brain wave of bringing them up the track to the house. BAD MOVE. Farrier extremely patient with them both, but it was a total nightmare as they were badly behaved - nowhere to tie them up - and the farriers dogs ran amok in the neighbours field. Cue neighbour coming out ranting and threatening to shoot us all.........................

Another scenario that went pear-shaped was when we got snowed in. Poor farrier came down in his Landy, got stuck. We "walked" Joe up the top to be shod where the farriers Landy had got stuck when he decided to JUMP OVER THE FARRIERS HEAD. This was not a good move, it was snowing and blowing a blizzard and I started to cry. Storm was so badly behaved at this point I ran down the hill in the deep snow - sobbing and threw her (literally) into her stable.

Fast forward to 2012.
We have Chloe. She is a great bear of a cob. Lovely, sweet old girl. Sadly has the worst mud fever I've seen and cos of this has become hard to handle feet wise. I worried and worried about farrier coming (literally didn't sleep the night before) but needn't have, cos coupled with the Sedalin she was okay for him - he was so patient and good with her, he deserved a medal I tell you!!!!

ANyway, sorry for the essay, but thought you might feel less alone in your quandry of farrier worries!
(And I know what you mean about wondering if they'll ditch you!!!!!)
Lots of positive vibes for your next farrier visit - sure it will all be okay! Good luck.
 
I used to dread the farrier... Wish I could send Abi up to you! *insert loving smug face* Sorry... Just think it will all be over soon for a while though!
 
No i have a good partnership with my Trimmer.
Always takes his time, is patient with cob.
We pass the time of day chatting about foot related stuff, the normal diet, exercise etc.

I have changed Trimmer, Tilley instantly did not like the other one. Those with a Welsh cob will understand what i mean by didn't like. Once her mine is made up that is it. You make the change because she certainly won't!

Eta Jack was all foot and teeth for me and farrier, solution, he did not have shoes. Have you thought about just not shoeing ? Is it pain that is causing flipo to behave like this?
 
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Yikes. That would stress me out too!

Lucky for me my trimmer is my OH and he is maybe more stressed out about not measuring up to my standards than I am about the horses behaving for him. lol

What have you done with Flip to get him better manners?

We had one horse that came to us unhandled from the range and she responded really well to clicker training.
Rather than commit to a lifetime of stressful shoer visits maybe explore some new ideas in training Flip?

Oh and we don't do shoes. The ones that need extra for riding just wear boots for it.
 
Thankyou Trewsers, nice to know I'm not alone in worrying about being a 'difficult' customer! And Claire - its nice to know other horses misbehave a bit!
Unfortunately I need to have him shod newforest - he's got a medial lateral imbalance that wasn't being resolved barefoot. This caused lameness last year. Fingers crossed shoeing helps.

Karin, my horse was bought off the continent where they shoe horses in a crush - so he was never trained. When I bought him 2.5 years ago he wouldn't lift his feet to have them picked out, the farrier visit was a nightmare and that was when he was barefoot. I used clicker training to good effect and he will now lift his hoof to a tap on his leg. A vast improvement.
I switched to a barefoot trimmer and it was a bit of a show down between him and my horse, but after an hour's battle, Flipo finally submitted and had his feet done without sedation. It got faster and faster over the past year which was fab- no sedative, trimmed hooves but then he went lame and thats when he ended up at the vet hospital and had to be shod. So I'm back to the mercy of the farrier. I keep working on manners, personal space and leadership but I can't have the farrier put at risk - he's dealing with nails and hot shoes. Too dangerous if my boy decides to slam his hoof down. (and he still does it when sedated).

Thankfully its all done now, so I can breathe again. I will keep working on his behaviour, and I'm hoping to eventually start reducing the dose he gets so he can get used to it a bit more. We shall see. Until next time, I can relax!
 
Good lord woman no wonder you dread it :eek: that made me
Feel anxious just reading it!

I've never actually met my farrier in all the time we've been using him :giggle: OH always sorts that out and I get a full report when I've finished work :smile:

If I did have to sort out I guess I would get worried, although nothing to worry about really :unsure:

Hope you're next visit goes okay just remember to breath!
 
Tobes is horrible being shod on his fronts. Fab on his back legs, but he had a problem with his shoulders - cue back lady and hundreds of exercises!!!!

He is still a proper pain on his front legs, but his shoulders are improving a lot, but the last time the farrier came, Tobes bit my finger, it was extremely painful, and I clouted him one around the head. Very sorry for everyone who never hits their horses. I very rarely do, but just not acceptable behaviour, especially for someone who is not in a lot of pain now as their shoulders are much improved, and my farrier was the one who suggested that there was a problem with his shoulders and recommended the backlady I have, and is very sympathetic with him. He was in a snit because he wanted to go out and didn't want his feet done!

I don't stress about it, just don't look forward to it very much. Farrier is a lovely older chap who is brilliant with horses and luckily - and I am not sure why, really seems to like Tobes, which actually is very helpful, as I am sure a lot would not want to do him.
 
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